Ancestral *NaNoWriMo Entry*

This science fiction novel will be set among a variety of post-apocalytic/future worlds where the protagonist Charlie is trying to find the origins of his home and existence. In each world Charlie takes on a different form. In each chapter, Charlie meets his nemisis 'C'. C is determined to kill Charlie, but why? In each world the mysterious ancestral symbol appears to confuse and tantalise Charlie (and the reader). Will Charlie survive? Why is C trying to kill him? Can one exist without the other?****** Our class is writing this******

6. Underground

The boy was surrounded by some sort of substance. It felt rough but gooey at the same time. Charlie tentatively opened his eyes. He appeared to be underground in dirt and mud. His vision was different than usual. It wasn’t as clear and it had a reddish tinge to it. He was a little scared when looking down at his body and not without reason. Every new world had shocked him and would bet anything he was about to receive another one. He looked at his body. What he saw made him scream. Well he tried to scream but no noise issued from his mouth. Instead the noise seemed to come from somewhere just above him. His feet were webbed and his legs a bright purple colour. His middle was like an aqua and his face rainbow polka-dotted. He had something like an antennae on top of his head but only one. It was yellow with a little red ball on top. On the little red ball was the symbol that looked kind of like a fish. This is where his scream must have come from. If he had to classify himself he would probably say a colourful ant, but he also had duck features. It took him a few minutes to take in his bizarre appearance and sat there pondering about certain aspects of his body. After about 5 minutes he finally came to himself. He had to start somewhere and he decided that his best chance was to dig his way to the surface of this world. He moved some dirt aside from above his head but the hole was simply filled in by more dirt. He done it again and pulled himself up into the gap before it could fill again.

Charlie dug for what felt like hours. His arms and legs were aching. He had dug for so long he had begun to think that perhaps there was no surface to this world, maybe it was all mud and dirt. Just as this thought crossed his mind his hand hit something hard. His heart leapt, maybe here he would be able to move on to the next world, this world is terrible. He dug across to the left a bit and the hard thing was still above him. He dug repetitively to the left until the hard thing above him vanished. Then the boy dug upwards and found the hard thing was now to his left. It appeared to be in the shape of a square or rectangle. He kept on digging until the hard thing vanished once again. Now he dug right in hope that it would appear again. He smiled when he saw the hard thing now below him. He kept moving across until the area around him flooded with light. Once he became accustomed to the light he looked around for the source of it. There was a round hole in the hard thing where the light was coming from, but there was also: music. Curiosity got the better of him and he jumped forwards into the hole and the unknown.

His ear drums were on the point of exploding. He was almost blinded by the bright lights. Perhaps it was just because his eyes were used to the darkness of the underground. Music was blaring and it seemed to be coming from the walls of this rectangular building. There was a light under his feet, perhaps the largest and brightest light he’d ever seen and lit up the whole building. The bright light was reflecting on the polka-dots on everyone’s faces so it looked like fairy lights were floating in mid-air. Everyone (or everything) was talking loudly and singing along with the music. Charlie couldn’t understand how they could stand the music. It sounded more like someone building something with saws and hammers rather than someone singing. When you listen carefully it sounds like there is someone singing behind the horrible music but in a different language. Then Charlie realised that all the creatures were taking in this same mysterious language he couldn’t understand. ‘Well,’ Charlie thought, ‘I can’t just stand here forever,’ and set off into the crowd of crazy creatures.

He was immediately hurled forwards by a group of the strange creatures. They started blabbing to him in their language and one even jumped on his back. The creature that had just been talking, stopped as though waiting for a reply. They were all staring at him now. Charlie tried to talk but no sound would come out as the creature that had jumped on is back was now squishing his antennae. He was unsure whether it was trying to kill him or be friendly. Now half the room was staring at him and the creature on his back. One of them pointed to Charlie’s antennae, then to the antennae of the thing on his back, then to his own. Everyone in the room gasped and started looking at their antennas. Then he realised; the ball on top of everyone’s antennas was yellow. Charlie’s antennae was red and the creature on his back’s antennae was green.

The thing that was on his back jumped off and ran away from the crowd. Charlie followed as fast as his webbed feet would let him. The green antennae creature ran up the wall: and didn’t fall off. He followed only half-heartedly. Once he was sure he wasn’t going to fall back down into the crowd of creatures he sprinted full-ball up the wall and followed the creature out of the hole at the top of the building. Charlie was left in no doubt who this creature really was. It was C. The only other thing different to everyone else. C dug so fast through the dirt that he could have been an electric drill. This made it easier for Charlie as he only had to run through the tunnels already made by C.

Charlie chased C left and right, up and down and all through the underground. He didn’t know whether C was actually going somewhere or running away from Charlie. It seems as though C is just running away. Maybe Charlie should be running away from C but Charlie wanted answers. He had come to the conclusion that C, the only other person or creature that seemed to be able to travel worlds, knew the way to find those answers. Charlie had no clue about any of his past or where he came from, never lone why he could travel through different worlds. The longer C dug, the wilder the paths got. They were now travelling in circles and spirals and once they even went upside-down. Maybe this was to try and find some secret place but Charlie thought it was more likely that C was trying to slow him down. ‘Well, it’s certainly working,’ thought Charlie bitterly, who, not used to his webbed feet and unbalanced body kept falling and tripping over his own feet. Charlie wondered how C was moving so fast with his unusual body. Maybe he was just a natural, or maybe he’d been here before.

Perhaps Charlie was tired and bored, but it felt like they’d been running through tunnels for days. He didn’t know how much longer he could run without collapsing. Maybe he could just lie down and sleep. This idea was sounded very pleasing but if he stopped C would either get away or move on to the next world. It would be much easier to get rid of Charlie once he was asleep or unconscious. His feet slowed and started dragging along the dirt. His head fell forwards onto his chest as his eyelids closed. He was just about to fall asleep when he tripped on something and fell forwards onto the dirt, only it wasn’t dirt. It was hard and jagged and smooth all at once. His eyes snapped open and he suddenly felt wide awake. He had finally found somewhere besides the building with all the creatures in this underground world. Maybe here he could move onto the next world. His heart leapt. He looked around and saw that C had finally got away. His heart sunk once more, but still he was somewhere. His feet were aching and only when he looked down did he finally realise what he was standing on. He was standing on what appeared to be rocks of all different colours. They were pointy and sharp on the edges but on the surface they were extremely smooth. Ahead there was something sparkling and it seemed to be asking him to go forwards. He didn’t know why but he felt like this sparkly thing was the answer to everything. ‘But how could it be?’ Charlie asked himself, ‘It’s just a few sparkles,’ but as he moved closer he realised that there something more in the sparkles. There was a door.

Charlie’s heart was thumping hard and fast against his ribs. The answer was right here through this door. There was something magical about it. To get there he just had to walk across these shiny rocks. The rocks seemed to be moving, they looked alive. They were slowly expanding and contracting as though breathing. Charlie didn’t know whether his webbed feet would be able to handle the sharp edges of the rock, plus he was scared they might jump up at any moment and attack him. If this was the answer to everything, how could it be so easy? Was this where he would find his way back to the real world? It might not be though. It could just be a fancy house where all the important creatures lived. He had talked himself into believing that here was the answer, when it might just be another obstacle on the way to the next world. ‘Well there’s only one way to find out,’ thought Charlie, and tentatively took his first step towards the sparkling door.

The moment his foot touched the rocks there was a loud bang from above him. A huge diamond coloured rock just like the ones below him but larger was falling through the sky right towards his head. Charlie screamed and sprinted as fast as he could along the rocks towards the door. More rocks were falling from the sky towards his head and the closer he got to the door, more and more rocks fell. He was about three metres from the door when he crashed into something. He had run into one of the large rocks. Three more rocks landed behind and beside him and he was well and truly trapped. The largest rock yet fell from the sky right at Charlie’s head. He would surely die, there was no escape. He screamed and screamed, hoping one of the creatures would hear him and come and save him. Even if they did come Charlie couldn’t see how they were going to save him. He curled up in a ball between the rocks trying to give himself more time before the rock hit him and killed him. He closed his eyes and tried not to imagine the pain that was about to come, and lie there waiting for his death.

Bang! There was a load noise from just above him. He wasn’t dead, he couldn’t be dead. He slowly opened his eyes and they immediately fell upon a point on the rock aiming right above his chest. The large rock that had been falling at his head was inches from him. Charlie was paralysed with shock. This rock was branded with the fish like symbol. He didn't know whether he was glad to see it or not. The rock hadn’t hit him because it was too large and it hit the four rocks around him and they held it above the ground. Another rock landed on top of the rock above him and it was like a heavier person on a see-saw. It went down on one side and fell right over onto the ground. As it went the point knocked over one of the side rocks surrounding him. Fate had saved him and released him while it was at it. He climbed over the side rock now lying on the ground and saw the sparkling door right in front of him. He leapt forwards into the doorway between the sparkles. As he landed he felt his head jerk backwards and was surrounded in darkness once more.